Walker Turner 16" Bandsaw

[bggrnchvy]

I don't want to call this a rebuild, as I'm really not fixing that much. Call it more of a refinish while replacing all the soft parts with little welding here and there. The goal is function for the next 75 years, being the saw is 75 years old this year.



Two years ago I found this Walker Turner 16" saw. As found it was in the MB1105 configuration. Upon further investigation however it seems this saw was ordered as a table top unit without the metal drive gearbox but was upgraded during it's life. These saws were built from '39-'48 and this saw, by serial number, was built in the first year, 1939.

When I went to see it the motor wouldn't spin when plugged in (bad start capacitor), but the gear box shifted nicely and the upper and lowers wheels spun easily without any slop or noise. As such I dragged it home, which was a feat. The saw weighs in around 600lbs due to almost entirely cast iron nature. Even the wheel access doors are castings. I managed to get it home and into the garage without breaking it any further and started the long road of bringing it back into service.




The first item I got after was removing the oxidation on the table. It had been stored in a failing barn and the environment was a little damp. It took a lot of elbow grease but it was clean again after the Scotchbrite and WD40 treatment.



The motor wouldn't spin, but would buzz when plugged in and switched on. I was not surprised when I pull the start capacitor. My original plan was to reuse this factory motor as the unit is in really good shape. I've even sourced a new capacitor to replace the failed unit. I just don't think 1/2hp is going to satisfy me, even if the rating is probably a bit higher than a current motor.



My most recent plan is to run a 56c TEFC 208v 3ph 1-1/2hp motor and power it by VFD to prevent me from having to change belt location as often. It should give me plenty of power push through thick plate as well. A strange combination of early American iron and solid state electronics that I think fits my tool selection well.

 

[bggrnchvy]

It sat in the garage for about 8 months at this point while life got in the way.




Suddenly I found myself with some time between employers and it turned into pieces.



During disassembly the only broken part I found was the reason the base plates didn't sit flush on one side. The two tabs had broken at some point.



I cleaned, ground and welded the plates back together with some stainless wire and gave them a little mechanical stress relief to solidly fix the issue. I didn't choose to fuse the interior for ear of closing the hole too much, I think they will be just fine as is.

 

[bggrnchvy]

And thus again the machine sat in pieces for almost a year as we landscaped and changed the exterior of newly purchased home as well as planned the wedding.

I'll be starting a tear down of the existing garage and extension to replace it with a much larger garage shortly and as such in the last month I've been back on this project so I can have a contour saw to assist my efforts.



I had planned to sandblast all of the larger items but the sandblaster, or more so the injector pump on the diesel engine powering the compressor is down currently. Out comes the wire wheel and brushes.



A heavy coat of oxide primer and several coats of gloss smoke grey and the base panels are painted.



This last weekend the frame itself got the same treatment.



More red oxide primer and paint and she was set to dry.



Trying to keep all the original plates intact, even if I won't be corresponding with the manufacturer. W-T was bought out by Kearney Trecker in 1948, then sold to Rockwell in '56. Rockwell stopped using the W-T name in the 60's. Since, Rockwell sold it's tool division to Pentair were the name W-T and it's rights lay as I understand.

 

[dr_clyde]

Looks really nice. A friend of mine has a machine shop, and has one of these to complement his big Do-All. It keeps up nicely. He's had it for 20+ years. They hold up. You'll be happy with it, I'm sure.

 

[Zeke]

Nice welding!

 

[dlehman604]

If your table tilt mechanism is not broken/repaired, you're in the minority. These saws are highly regarded by many and they are very robust in many ways - except for that. I've got the same saw sitting in my garage, patiently waiting for attention for (sigh) about five years now.

 

[yaidunno]

Fantastic saw! I love the art deco styling they put into the equipment back then.

 

[bggrnchvy]

If your table tilt mechanism is not broken/repaired, you're in the minority. These saws are highly regarded by many and they are very robust in many ways - except for that. I've got the same saw sitting in my garage, patiently waiting for attention for (sigh) about five years now.

The tilt mechanism is intact and functional. The screw was a little stuck from years of not being used, but freed up easily with some Kroil.

I took great care to not tie down, pick up or otherwise use the table as a choke point for this exact reason.

If it ever breaks in the future I'm sure I can machine and weld another to replace the Zamak pieces that are in there currently.

 

[catalytic]

That's a beautiful saw. I have seen a lot of them, but I rarely see them with intact trunnions and the cast iron base.

 

[Bryan Burns]

Nice story and pics. Thanks for sharing it with us.

 

[jerryW]

I picked up one qt a yard sale a few years ago for $60. Needs a motor and pulleys though. I'll get to it on of these days.


jerry

 

[454ragtop]

Great saw. Even though I have 3 metal cutting vertical bandsaws, including a Startrite 30", I really want one of those. Came close a couple times, but just didn't work out for one reason or another. One saw I looked at about 2 years ago had fallen over, and broke the main frame. Guy selling it "Won't take much to weld it back together, good as new". Ya right, that's the most critical part of the saw, no thanks.
Good luck with the refurbishment, Jim

 

[bggrnchvy]

As the heavy parts that had been repainted started to pile up I knew it was time to figure out a mobile base for the saw. I could have purchased a $120 adjust-to-fit base that would accept the weight of the saw but I just couldn't bring myself to do it.



We had a pile of scrap and drops at work I put to use.



Not having a pulse module and welding stainless at the house makes managing the heat tough. I overcooked these guys pretty well as shown by the thick oxide layer. The downhill fillet worked out alright, but clearly that was because of the angle's thickness not my own skill.



A stand was born.




The swivel casters are a tight fit both in relation to the angle and the gusset. I had originally planned to run a supporting band over the top of the caster plate to truss it from above, but as shown below, it may be overkill.



The motor mount plate refinished along with it's clocking tab and pivot rod.



I finally assembled some parts and it's resembling itself once again.

 

[nine4gmc]

Real nice saw and great job cleaning it up, love that rolling stand idea as well!!

 

[Graham08]

Really nice work! I have one of these saws and use it often. Unfortunately it got dropped by a previous owner and the base was broken. So, it has a fabricated replacement. It doesn't affect the function of the saw, but it would look 100 percent better with the original art deco base.

Sent from my SCH-I535 using Tapatalk

 

[RatchetMan]

Outstanding job. I know many guys like to paint their stuff bright colors but I think the machinery gray color just looks right.

 

[A_Pmech]

Looking good!

 

[-Brent-]

Excellent progress. Looks to be coming out REALLY well.

 

[Rust]

Nice saw!
Those welds are really nice!
Kudos.
I wish I had the gear reduction..
I'm at the tail end of restoring a 1940's Walker Turner 14" wood bandsaw(4speed via step pullies).
I had to track down parts and piece mine together....actually I bought 2 and took the best of both for the one.
I bought a mobile base, but it will be nowhere as cool as yours.

 

[bggrnchvy]

I dug into the upper wheel tension and tilt assembly.



The bearings have been replaced in it's lifetime with SKF units and then green locktited in place which is the standard solution as W-T used some interesting inner diameters that are two thou undersized from standard 6202 bearings up top. I cleaned out the junk and repacked them with grease. I also tore it all down, cleaned everything up and greased the threaded shafts and oiled the linear shafts. The carriage has bronze bushings it uses to ride on the linear shafts so just enough oil to get everything moving freely again should last a very long time.

 

[firecracker]

Great job Bud I'm gonarafta make one of those rolling stands for my bandsaw, has yours got braked casters ????

 

[bggrnchvy]

Mine do not.

I'm planning to add a pair of floor locks opposite the non-swiveling casters, unless I cheap out and just build 4 load leveling feet.

 

[bggrnchvy]

I got the lower blade guide cleaned up and reassembled.



I also got the inner guards cleaned up, painted and installed along with the upper wheel tilt/tension block. As you can see the saw currently resides in the catch all room which is awaiting tear down via permit from the city.

 

[gus1962]

That band saw looks beautiful. Great job on the restoration. Putting back together is the most exciting job.
Did you install new tires? Can you tell us the blade length?

 

[bggrnchvy]

I haven't hung the wheels yet, as such while I have new tires to put on, I have not yet. Still have to come up with a fixture to crown them as well.

The blade length is 113-117", 114" seems to be the most commonly produced in that range.

 

[bggrnchvy]

Just snagged a 1hp 3ph Marathon washdown motor and a Westinghouse VFD with 110vac input to run this thing.

Now just to verify belt size when I get home and get a new pulley to match the bigger 5/8" motor shaft.

 

[nine4gmc]

Looking good!

 

[bggrnchvy]

Motor and pulley showed up last week. Nice to have some more power and to have a well sealed motor.



I haven't been able to make any progress on the saw otherwise due to some other projects.

I was finally swapping the cam in my truck, which I've been wanting to do for years.



My wife decided she want to 'paint' our very 80's main bath. It quickly snowballed from her painting project to our drywall, retaping, tiling, new vanity, toilet, fixtures, and electrical project. I finally got the vanity plumbed in Sunday, all I have left is to shave the door an 1/8" to clear the tile better. I opted not to replace the tub or the tile around it, even if the accent along the top is beige. It's getting a shower curtain

 

[bggrnchvy]

VFD showed up at work this morning. If I can find some time here, I may be able to start playing with it.

 

[WhoWhatNow]

I have that unit on my Bridgeport. I think you will like it.

Very nice work on the saw and bathroom.

 

[gus1962]

Glad to hear you're almost done with it.Tell us then how would it go. Great job on the bathroom.

 

[TheFees]

I am blown away by how thoroughly you have cleaned up this WT Band Saw. I have the same exact one. I did a complete restore as far as painting and functionality is concerned without being a machinist I am not familiar with the packing of grease for the geared motor, or the proper oil to put in the motor end etc. This 1948 is all original including the geared motor and fully functional.
If you could be so kind as to make a quick list of the areas that need lubrication. Such as 1) lube geared motor with such and such grease. 2) Take the pulleys off, (or leave them on and pack with such and such grease.

I had a body shop for 20 years so I really took the paint down to the metal the way you did and painted it to last. I contacted Delta who had acquired WT and they said according to the serial number my saw was made in 1948 and was one of the very last ones made.

I want to put this saw into production. How do I get to the gears in order to grease them? Everything works great right now, but I don't want to blindly use something of this vintage without knowing how to lube it properly. It has a phase inverter on it because the motor is wired for three phase.
Please do a quick list like
1) lube geared motor with such and such grease
2) Take pulleys off or leave on and pack with such and such grease.
I included a couple of photos one before, and a couple after.
Your help is greatly appreciated.
Also what type of welder did you use for putting the base together and repairing the ears? Really, really nice work.
https://scontent-lga3-1.**.fbcdn.net/hphotos-xfa1/v/t1.0-9/28512_1316309425443_5107056_n.jpg?oh=d334dbf63f9dce68e17350d26c05f2ee&oe=56C58310
https://scontent-lga3-1.**.fbcdn.net/hphotos-xaf1/v/t1.0-9/17268_1241833403589_3710714_n.jpg?oh=2851e984b4f271a1da4f31c933f4be2d&oe=568E1313
https://scontent-lga3-1.**.fbcdn.net/hphotos-xfa1/v/t1.0-9/17268_1241833443590_3171588_n.jpg?oh=a067561c88993b45f8a9bd4e17e19e4d&oe=5685434B
https://scontent-lga3-1.**.fbcdn.ne...=3ca3914adca70eff3ff8c0af9e6f5dfd&oe=56C2446C
https://scontent-lga3-1.**.fbcdn.net/hphotos-xaf1/v/t1.0-9/17268_1241833483591_4942369_n.jpg?oh=3ca3914adca70eff3ff8c0af9e6f5dfd&oe=56C2446C

 

[Mike.ASC]

Excellent work on everything. I'd love to find one like that.

 

[454ragtop]

I am blown away by how thoroughly you have cleaned up this WT Band Saw. I have the same exact one. I did a complete restore as far as painting and functionality is concerned without being a machinist I am not familiar with the packing of grease for the geared motor, or the proper oil to put in the motor end etc. This 1948 is all original including the geared motor and fully functional.
If you could be so kind as to make a quick list of the areas that need lubrication. Such as 1) lube geared motor with such and such grease. 2) Take the pulleys off, (or leave them on and pack with such and such grease.

I had a body shop for 20 years so I really took the paint down to the metal the way you did and painted it to last. I contacted Delta who had acquired WT and they said according to the serial number my saw was made in 1948 and was one of the very last ones made.

I want to put this saw into production. How do I get to the gears in order to grease them? Everything works great right now, but I don't want to blindly use something of this vintage without knowing how to lube it properly. It has a phase inverter on it because the motor is wired for three phase.
Please do a quick list like
1) lube geared motor with such and such grease
2) Take pulleys off or leave on and pack with such and such grease.
I included a couple of photos one before, and a couple after.
Your help is greatly appreciated.
Also what type of welder did you use for putting the base together and repairing the ears? Really, really nice work.
https://scontent-lga3-1.**.fbcdn.net/hphotos-xfa1/v/t1.0-9/28512_1316309425443_5107056_n.jpg?oh=d334dbf63f9dce68e17350d26c05f2ee&oe=56C58310
https://scontent-lga3-1.**.fbcdn.net/hphotos-xaf1/v/t1.0-9/17268_1241833403589_3710714_n.jpg?oh=2851e984b4f271a1da4f31c933f4be2d&oe=568E1313
https://scontent-lga3-1.**.fbcdn.net/hphotos-xfa1/v/t1.0-9/17268_1241833443590_3171588_n.jpg?oh=a067561c88993b45f8a9bd4e17e19e4d&oe=5685434B
https://scontent-lga3-1.**.fbcdn.ne...=3ca3914adca70eff3ff8c0af9e6f5dfd&oe=56C2446C
https://scontent-lga3-1.**.fbcdn.net/hphotos-xaf1/v/t1.0-9/17268_1241833483591_4942369_n.jpg?oh=3ca3914adca70eff3ff8c0af9e6f5dfd&oe=56C2446C

Might be a manual you can use here http://www.vintagemachinery.org/mfgindex/detail.aspx?id=808&tab=3
Jim

 

[bggrnchvy]

I am blown away by how thoroughly you have cleaned up this WT Band Saw. I have the same exact one. I did a complete restore as far as painting and functionality is concerned without being a machinist I am not familiar with the packing of grease for the geared motor, or the proper oil to put in the motor end etc. This 1948 is all original including the geared motor and fully functional.
If you could be so kind as to make a quick list of the areas that need lubrication. Such as 1) lube geared motor with such and such grease. 2) Take the pulleys off, (or leave them on and pack with such and such grease.

I had a body shop for 20 years so I really took the paint down to the metal the way you did and painted it to last. I contacted Delta who had acquired WT and they said according to the serial number my saw was made in 1948 and was one of the very last ones made.

I want to put this saw into production. How do I get to the gears in order to grease them? Everything works great right now, but I don't want to blindly use something of this vintage without knowing how to lube it properly. It has a phase inverter on it because the motor is wired for three phase.
Please do a quick list like
1) lube geared motor with such and such grease
2) Take pulleys off or leave on and pack with such and such grease.
I included a couple of photos one before, and a couple after.
Your help is greatly appreciated.
Also what type of welder did you use for putting the base together and repairing the ears? Really, really nice work.

You're refinish looks very clean, nice job!

I don't have the back geared motor on my unit. It was just a a 4 pole 1/2hp motor, and I've since replaced it with a more modern 56c 1hp motor.

The grease I've used in all the bearings for the wheels was simply an NLGI #2 w/ lithium base, in this case I believe it was Mobile 1 wheel bearing grease. I also have some Timken stuff floating around. For these small bearings it's up to the task, and since the bearings in my saw are more modern SKF replacements I'm not concerned with meeting old spec.

For the pulley's, as I recall there are oil cups. However, those only work if the bearings aren't packed with decades of saw dust and the oil passage is clear. The manual, as i recall, like many of the period simply refers to using light machine oil. Today's lubricants are far above what was available back then, Mobile DTE is preferred by most of the machinists for this app. However, many will also use ATF as it's more widely available in small containers. I side with the Mobile DTE group, as the wax due to the base of most ATF's (non-synthetic) can build up gunk over time in this kind of app.

Welding was just an old Miller Dialarc 250HF tig machine. It's boat anchor and a half, pulls a huge amount of juice, but just continues to hum along.

I haven't made any more progress on this machine as it's packed in the back of my storage container as I build the new garage.

http://garagejournal.com/forum/showthread.php?t=277895

 

[TheFees]

You're refinish looks very clean, nice job!

I don't have the back geared motor on my unit. It was just a a 4 pole 1/2hp motor, and I've since replaced it with a more modern 56c 1hp motor.

The grease I've used in all the bearings for the wheels was simply an NLGI #2 w/ lithium base, in this case I believe it was Mobile 1 wheel bearing grease. I also have some Timken stuff floating around. For these small bearings it's up to the task, and since the bearings in my saw are more modern SKF replacements I'm not concerned with meeting old spec.

For the pulley's, as I recall there are oil cups. However, those only work if the bearings aren't packed with decades of saw dust and the oil passage is clear. The manual, as i recall, like many of the period simply refers to using light machine oil. Today's lubricants are far above what was available back then, Mobile DTE is preferred by most of the machinists for this app. However, many will also use ATF as it's more widely available in small containers. I side with the Mobile DTE group, as the wax due to the base of most ATF's (non-synthetic) can build up gunk over time in this kind of app.

Welding was just an old Miller Dialarc 250HF tig machine. It's boat anchor and a half, pulls a huge amount of juice, but just continues to hum along.

I haven't made any more progress on this machine as it's packed in the back of my storage container as I build the new garage.

http://garagejournal.com/forum/showthread.php?t=277895

Thank you so much for your reply. I have printed out your suggestions. I also thank 454 for the suggestion as to the vintagemachinery.org Got the photo page and description which showed it with the gears off. I see from that page also that the motor options were 1/2hp single phase, and 3/4hp three phase. I understand with a phase converter the 3/4hp is reduced to 1/2hp so your 1 hp is a nice upgrade.
I will come back and update. I like you am caught in the middle of a remodel on the house. I am trying to finish up a complete kitchen remodel. I am so tired of washing dishes in the bathroom, and cooking in the living room.
Doing a garage addition is something I would love to do but only have a 1/8th acre lot. Not enough space to do it. I did build an addition out the back as a Florida room, although technically it is a greenhouse.
It always gets worse before it gets better.
Thanks again. I'll be back.

 

[AdrianBoomer]

bggrnchvy

I am rebuilding my band saw and have done a very thorough job like you have. I have taken some pics, but you documentation is especially well done. Nice work!

Can you update this thread with pics of the table, the tilt mechanism rebuild and lower wheel assembly as well as the finished saw.

Again, this thread was very helpful up until this point. Thank you and I would love to have more conversation regarding these saws.

 

[bggrnchvy]

bggrnchvy

I am rebuilding my band saw and have done a very thorough job like you have. I have taken some pics, but you documentation is especially well done. Nice work!

Can you update this thread with pics of the table, the tilt mechanism rebuild and lower wheel assembly as well as the finished saw.

Again, this thread was very helpful up until this point. Thank you and I would love to have more conversation regarding these saws.

I'd love to be able to, but it's been packed away in the back of my storage container for a year and half while I've been building a home for it. I've literally made zero progress since the last post.

http://garagejournal.com/forum/showthread.php?t=277895

 

[nine4gmc]

I missed out on a WT 16" bandsaw last weekend for $250 at the auction but passed the winner my number in case he decides to sell it.

 

[shoot summ]

Nice saw, great to see the rebuild.

I bought a 14" at a garage sale for my Dad about 30 years ago. He spent weeks removing the layers of latex paint(think it was a military tool). This one has the gearbox as well, and the cast belt cover. I inherited the saw when Dad passed in June, it's sitting comfortably in my shop now. Have a few little tune up items to do, but I'm ready to start using it.